i love australian border control, not so fond of nz

[wayno]

aus customs werent concerned i was a bush walker. didnt stop me to search my stuff, unlike NZ customs....
saw them taking a few boots away for a steam cleaning in NZ , i avoided it when they saw my boots were clean...
lots of people had their whole luggage gone through. i think mainly for food related searches....

[taswegian]

Biosecurity may sound a modern day catchword but the implications can be disastrous for our primary producers and yours Wayno.

I am sure many (majority of?) city dwellers have absolutely no idea what goes into putting food into the system.
Nor the cost of a once non existent pest getting into the crop production.
We rightly so get very cautious when bird flu (for egs) starts to infiltrate the travelers and yet that is very much the same scenario in the plant or animal (food) kingdom.

It always concerns me the threat we bushwalkers are to the ecosystem.
Would we ever check our socks, our boot liners, pockets and ensure they are devoid of any seeds before we embark on a foray into the wilderness as we now know it?
I remember years ago seeing ragwort in the Walls and around Lakes Meston/ Adelaide area. Most likely carried in by horses.
Many walkers would probably see it in flower and think what a lovely wildflower, a variety of Fireweed.
Imagine Gorse in the southwest. Swathes of brilliant gold flowing out across the countryside. It would be a sight worth seeing. Put Canada's Maple display to shame, not to mention our very own Fagus.
What a sight to behold!

I welcome the effort the border security place on such things.
Last year we freely declared we came from a 'ranch' (farm here) and allowed inspection of ourselves.
I would hope all travelers to Australia offer themselves freely also.

[wayno]

yup i dont criticise what they do, but you sit at the back of a queue of people who just dont bother reading the border control info and you look at all the food and plants they try and bring in,,, and the border security have to open it all up and go through all of it. and a fair bit of it is not allowed in as stated in their documentation.
i wasnt a problem i scrubbed by boots and fine they need to check them, i scrubbed my boots to save them the trouble of cleaning them and all good they want to check them still. , but people take the time to read the border control info when you go into a country and save everyone time